"Mind-boggling" - Marina Mabrey's agent gets brutally honest as Connecticut declines client's trade request

Shooting guard Marina Mabrey wants out of the Connecticut Sun but the team has declined her request to be traded. The situation has left the player's agent perplexed, considering the recent moves of the Sun to trade away key personnel.

In a statement published by ESPN, Marcus Crenshaw of The FAM agency, which represents Mabrey, criticized the Sun's decision not to let go of the five-year WNBA player despite her desire to leave Connecticut.

Crenshaw said:

"In this current age of women's empowerment and support of the players, the CT Sun threatening to force Marina Mabrey to play for them after her trade request is mind-boggling."

He added:

“Why would anyone try to force someone to play on their team when they don't want to be there? It's counterproductive in a ton of ways and everyone we have spoken to is perplexed about how they are handling Marina, after trading away Hall of Fame caliber players.”

Marina Mabrey's trade request came amid the Sun's moves to let go of its core players from the past couple of seasons. All-Stars Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner are now part of the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever, respectively; Brionna Jones is with the Atlanta Dream; and WNBA Most Improved Player DoJonnai Carrington is now part of the Dallas Wings. Coach Stephanie White, meanwhile, also made the decision to return to Indiana to coach the Fever.

Marina Mabery was traded to Connecticut from Chicago midway last season for a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 pick swap, as well as guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson.

In 16 games she played for the Suns last season, she averaged 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and a steal in 27 minutes.

Connecticut Sun explains the decision to not grant Marina Mabrey's trade request

In denying Marina Mabrey's trade request, the Connecticut Sun said it was arrived at as they want to build a team around her.

Team president Jennifer Rizzotti made this known in an interview with The Associated Press, saying:

"Marina is someone we want on our roster. The decision not to trade her is we want her to play for us. She's a competitor and we like her as a person. We want to keep her around. She's an easy piece to build around."

She added:

"We wanted her for longer than a half-year, that was a priority for us. She was trying to fit in an already established roster last year."

The Sun lost a lot of key players in the offseason but is regrouping by adding Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud, Diamond DeShields, Jacy Sheldon, and Lindsay Allen. They also have a new coach in former Belgian national team coach, Rashid Meziane.

Management said the moves it has made were strategic not only for the 2025 WNBA campaign but also for the future.